Story of Guarantee Possession of Leadership Qualities - Case Study Example

My Leadership Story Bennis and Thomas argue in the article “Crucibles of Leadership” that the ability that an individual has in finding meaning and responding to negative events is a factor of leadership that is the most reliable and predictable. Several examples depict situations that people faced trying circumstances and negative events and were able to show their leadership skills. Bennis & Thomas (2002) refer to these moments as moments as being the crucibles. I have personally had a crucible moment at my job at Saudi Aramco in the department of policy and recruitment when a person from a higher rank in the company made a comment that was negative about me and this statement would change me. What was the “crucible” experience or event and how did it change or transform you? Bennis and Thomas suggest that a crucible moment is one that has a transforming ability. They therefore give a definition of a crucible moment as a moment of experiencing transformation through which an individual comes to a new identity state or to one that is altered”. In many times, the crucible moment is a moment that is based on the differences of cultures such as where people might receive negative treatment basing this on cultural grounds. Moreover, there are other cases where individuals receive different and negative treatment, as a result of their gender. This is reflected by the example used by Bennis and Thomas in their article. In my own experience, I was spoken to in a negative manner by a higher up in the company. In Saudi, there is an effort that is aimed at replacing foreign workers with local ones. This program is aimed at ensuring that there is employment of the citizens of the country as well as achieving other economic goals such as increasing local spending. This is because the earning of many foreigners is not spent in the country. My supervisor at the time was a foreigner and appeared to have some concerns about the large number of citizens replacing local workers. The foreign employees seemed to be more experienced and skilled than the local employees but the company had to observe this rule that the government had set. Other companies in the country as well had to show compliance. The observation that foreign employees were more skilled in many cases is what led to the negative comment by the higher up and it was directed to me and other local workers. The statement was that the local employees were always inferior to the foreign employees, that they were usually lazy and would not lead the company to attaining its goals. The comment, was made in my presence and it made me to feel hurt considering how I considered myself to be hardworking as I used the leadership skills that I had acquired through the years from the high school projects I undertook, participation in charity club and in the sports group. This incident appeared as a disappointment to me initially but later enabled me to know the type of a leader that I wanted to be. It made me to realize that my desire was to be more than just a vision creator and that I had a passion for being that leader who had the ability of championing others. The higher up stated that the comment was a form of motivation for me and the other local workers to work hard. This on the other hand had appeared to be a negative comment that caused demotivation but I decided never to treat employees in the same way. I then decided that I would do all what I could to show support to the employees at any time that I would be a leader. I discovered that leadership was much more that what I had initially thought and realized that it was all about goal creation and leading employees towards the achievement. The incident placed me in a position whereby I felt more focused in developing people, a situation that I had not experienced before. I discovered the existence of difference between vision creating, expecting the achievement of the vision from the followers and leading them towards the achievement as well as developing them. I knew that the locals who took over the foreigners were less skillful and less experienced but I believed in taking the right measures to develop them rather that making negative comments in their regard. What was the impact of this experience on your values and/or beliefs? The incident had great impact on my values and beliefs. Although I had always considered the importance of people in the achievement of goals, I had not considered the power and importance of the right communication to these people. I had never considered the impact that would result from communication to the motivation of employees. I therefore changed my belief from being that as a leader I only needed to state the goals to the employees to one that considered the importance of ensuring that the right tools were availed for achievement of goals. Employees also needed development in terms of skills and experience. I also increased the level that I held for people following the discouragement I received from the former comment. The comment made me to realize that people are different and negative communication would affect their participation differently and it might end up affecting the ability of the leader to achieve goals. This was in respect to the value for people. The comment also made me to realize that individuals in any organization were different and that it was important for a leader to value these differences. I therefore realized that it was wrong to generalize people belonging to certain groups and discovered it was wise for a leader to treat people differently and not based on their group or country that they belong. What assumptions about leadership were made and/or challenged? One of the assumptions that I held about leadership and that was challenged is that a person becomes a good leader as long as they are able to acquire leadership position. I believed that in all cases leaders are selected based on the skills that they possess that qualify them to be good leaders. This was wrong because I later found out that there were those individuals who do not possess any leadership skills but are in positions of leadership. It became evident that many leaders do not consider the importance of people, who treat people harshly and do not possess any skills that qualify them to being leaders. This aspect is evident for both leaders in organizations as well as the national leaders. I came to the realization that I should never assume that those who are in leadership positions are always good leaders and that being in leadership does not guarantee possession of leadership qualities. I considered the leader who had made the negative comment concerning local leaders and how this comment had ended up causing a demotivation for work to me and the other local employees. I realized how leaders who did not possess the right leadership skills would lead to goals that are set by the leader not being achieved. This leader was later replaced following the compliance of the policy that required that foreign employees be replaced with local ones. What impact did this experience have on your view and approach to leadership? This experience gave me the ability to see the importance of leaders to develop their employees to enable them gain the relevant skills for the best performance of their duties. This development should not be done on group basis but on individual basis. It enabled me to see the importance of developing employees on an approach of “one size fits all”. I feel that generalizing and stereotyping on a group of people makes leaders to assume that all individuals are the same, which is not true since they have their own differences. I also believe that different leaders in the leadership positions attain these positions in different ways. I believe that leaders such as the one in Saudi Aramco attain their positions in ways that are not based on consideration of possession of leadership skills. Other leaders who are positive and who know how to deal with people in organizations acquire their positions through means that are based on possession of leadership skills. What skills and/or strengths did you discover you had and/or did you develop as a result of your crucible event/experience? I have developed strong interpersonal skills by focusing on the subordinates as individuals. In the effort of focusing on the employees as individuals, I was able to study their different factors such as their different sources of motivation, and their needs in terms of skills and knowledge. This has enabled me to develop strong communication skills as well as creativity and critical thinking skills. I have also developed skills of problem solving that can enable me to address various issues. These skills have been acquired from the communication to employees and throughout their development process. I have also been able to understand the meaning of poor leadership and I have also been able to gain strength and to have the ability of determining the various mistakes that different leaders make in their leadership. Summarize by discussing what leadership means to you and your definition of leadership. Leadership to me is implied by an individual who is able to focus on their subordinates as a group but seeing them as individuals who deserve to be respected. A leader is a person who has the ability to create goals and seeing their effectiveness by use of the right resources. Leaders are individuals who support the persons that are involved in achieving the set goals and this support requires the leader to show respect to these people and to develop their skills and knowledge levels where the need for doing so arise. They should also be able to understand the different needs in different employees. The negative experience that I had from the negative comment enabled me to be positive about learning more on leadership and I was able to grow as a leader. Throughout the leadership process, I have also been able to realize that leadership also needs continuous development. Reference Bennis, W. G. & Thomas, R. J. (2002). Crucibles of Leadership.” Harvard Business Review, 61-69. Read More